So, more good news. Another review came in this one was from a, Nadia Batista, who lives in Portugal and has read my book. She gave it a ★★★★ 4 Star review on Goodreads. That is awesome on so many different levels. Hopefully it starts picking up some international steam now. That would be fantastic. There is a bunch of things that need to happen before that happens, but this is definitely a step in the right direction.

With that being said, here is the link to the actual blog post. http://eu-e-o-bam.blogspot.pt/2013/12/li-ate-pag100-36.html What I post below is the rough translation of what is posted in the blog post. Keep in mind that I do not speak Portuguese nor does my mom. She was a Spanish teacher for 35+ years and there are similarities between Spanish and Portuguese so that is why I say this is a rough translation. Where she got stumped, we went to Google Translation.

1st part – First sentence on Page 100:

-> “If water is blue, why must this one be red?”

2nd part – What does the book deal with:

-> Trials of the Core tells a story of six youngsters who compete amongst one another in order to become Guardian of the Core.

3rd part – What have I found until now?:

-> You are going to enjoy the book more than one expects. In spite of that at times it reminds me of Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, this is going to be quite agreeable literature.

4th part – What does the protagonist find?:

-> There is no protagonist in this story. Amongst the six competitors the story is told, not favoring one more than another. Now, how much to like all the characters…that is another story.

5th part – ??? No idea. Couldn’t understand this.

6th part – Are you going to continue reading?

-> Of course.

7th Part – The last sentence of the page:

-> “Everyone else had to travel by foot – but time was no issue for him now.”

I was very excited for this review. As a first-time author, not really knowing what to expect going into this whole process, I find it really really interesting that people from other countries are enjoying my books. That makes me feel good on a whole different level. Again, I think a big reason for this is because this book deals with the issue of self-realization which is an issue that is global, and not just in an isolated pocket.

Spread the word about, The Trials of the Core, to your friends. Also, don’t be afraid to check out the website at www.guardianofthecore.com.

Alright so this is the saddest thing in the world to announce (at least for me) but I have been promoting my official book launch for December 10th, for forever now it seems. And alas, I do not believe it is going to happen (unless a miracle happens). In truth, I am not sure when it is going to happen anymore. How did this fiasco happen? Well, that, my friends and followers, is what I’m going to explain because I was quite distraught when I read the news.

So, with self publishing, we publishers have a few options to go with to let our books have the chance to be distributed nation-wide. Those options are CreateSpace (CS) or LightningSource (LS). There are probably others, too, but these two are the main players. Anyways, I went with LS because they offer a return policy, unlike CS, which is very important to get your books into bookstores, some bookstores are hesitant not to take books without a return policy because it is a rough economy out there. Also, LS does not put that they are the publisher on their books like CS does.

This July LightningSource split off into LightningSource and IngramSpark (IS). IngramSpark is where they transferred all of their self-published authors, like me! Now, this is fine, I don’t have a problem going with IS. However, I did not take time to read thoroughly the time delay it would take from the time it is submitted on IS to the time it actually gets put up on websites like amazon.com or barnesandnoble.com. I though it would be an instantaneous process like LS, however, it is not. With that being said, I just approved everything a week and a half ago. This was all before I knew the fact thtat a new, never before published author like me, can expect up to 4-6 weeks to get out onto Amazon. Now, I have NO IDEA why the heck there is such a lag or delay in this process (it’s electronic after all). But, so far, my book is not up there yet, and I don’t really know when it’s going to be up there. So, if you were planning on buying the book, The Trials of the Core, on Amazon you will not be able to until I find out that it’s up there. When that happens I will let you know.

Anyways, there is my plight. So, maybe it’ll be up on Amazon tomorrow, but I doubt it. But, do not fear, there is still hope! You can order the book from my website, www.guardianofthecore.com and not only will you get the book sooner than what Amazon would deliver, but you will also get a personally autographed book, something that Amazon cannot give you. So, go there, check out the site, and if you feel inclined to buy, then go for it 🙂

For other aspiring authors out there who are reading the blog, keep this new timeline in mind when you are planning your book’s release date. I do not want to see any other authors affected by this like me.

So, as I’m sure many bloggers are doing this on Thanksgiving I wanted to make sure I take some time and thank everyone who has made an impact in my life over the past couple months. Below is a list of everything I have been thankful for as of late. This list isn’t all inclusive, just the ones that come to mind.

1) My family: I couldn’t be more thankful for them. Minus a small portion they have provided the means for me to make the dream of publishing my first book come true. Don’t get me wrong, I am still in so much debt that sometimes I have trouble sleeping at night but they considerably reduced it and are always my personal salesman always telling people about my book.

2) My friends: Over the past 2 months now I have gone through a large transitional phase in my life and I think it’s only going to continue to grow and no one has been there more for me than my friends. They have been reassuring me that the choice I made was a best course solution and have helped me cope with loneliness and have done many things to get my mind off of the past. Not only that, but they have supported me in my book endeavors too and, although I’m not sure if they are actually interested in hearing me rant all the time, they listen to me rant about the struggles of me self-publishing a book and the financial strain I feel at all times.

3) My readers: For those of you who have supported me and actually bought a book from me, thank you. For those of you who have not only bought a book, but have read it as well and have helped me get the momentum rolling with the book, an even bigger thanks. I truly hope you enjoyed it, and for those of you who haven’t read it yet, but have it, well I hope you like it. It was a project six years in the making and it’s always really scary pouring your heart and soul into something and then giving it to the public to judge and hope they like it. So far (knock on wood) it has gotten good reviews, but there is never any such things as too many good reviews. So, if you finish the book and enjoyed it please please please rate it on Goodreads and on Amazon and give it a good rating.

4) My future roomies at Whitewater: Although I haven’t officially moved in there yet, I am super happy of the place I have in Whitewater. It is perfect location to everything. As any transfer student is I’m sure living with random people you always wonder “Okay, are these people just going to stick around their friends, or be inclusive?” Well, I am super happy that my roommates are the latter. They are super inclusive and I think that is awesome and it only helps me get acclimated to the Whitewater community that much faster. I can’t wait to move in at the end of December and am even more excited to start the pursuit of my new career in English education when school starts again in January.

5) Supporters of my new career path: Speaking of being excited to start school again in January, I am also excited to see so much support I have gotten as I switch career paths. I am not saying marketing isn’t right for me, I love marketing and it’s been a blast really having first hand experience in marketing my own book, but marketing is a very hard field to get into right now. I am not saying education will be any better for me come Fall 2015 when I look for jobs, but I think I will be able to find a job. All of the people who I’ve told about this career path have told me that I would be an awesome teacher and it makes me reaffirm my faith that this path in my life is definitely the one I want to go down.

6) Finally, I guess I’m thankful for my book: I know, it sounds weird. But, let me explain. I am thankful for my book and everything that it has taught me in my life in the past couple months. A big saying in the book is “The Toughest Trials Test You Truest” and nothing has been a tougher trial for me than to take this large financial risk and publish a book. I think what is even tougher though is knowing that this is only part 1 in a 4-5 book series and that I continue writing. And, when you couple in the fact that I haven’t had as much support as I intended with this first book from FB friends or college friends it is really hard for me to continue writing and even think about launching the second book in 2015 (which is my goal currently) considering I’ll still probably be in debt with this first book if sales do not go the way I intend them to in the near future. Another important lesson my book offers, though, is the fact that nothing is impossible, only you decide what is possible and what is impossible so when you are feeling low, which is what I feel sometimes, you just say to yourself “I’m Possible” and continue pushing through. That is what I’m doing and hopefully it all works out for me.

Anyways, that is everything I am thankful for this Thanksgiving. If you are one of these people, you know. I truly appreciate every ounce of support I get whether that be in my career change, my new path in life, or my book. Thanks to you all and have a Happy Thanksgiving!!!